.Ha 


MEMORIAL  DAY  ADDRESS 


.1 


HON.  C.  HARTSON. 


Petition  to  President  Arthur  on  the 
Chinese   Question. 


XAPA,  CAL. 

JOURK'AL  I'KINT,   SKCOXD  STI{I-:KT,   XKAK  MAIN. 
1886. 


1  ' 

^-^-A-A-AJ          i 


Bancroft  Library 

OUR  DEAD  HERO, 

Funeral  Address  on  the  Death  of  II,  S,  Grant, 

BY  CHANCELLOR    HARTSON. 


AN    ELOQUENT    TRIBUTE  TO    THE    HEROIC  LIFE,  ACHIEVE- 
MENTS AND    DEATH  OF  THAT  GREAT 
SOLDIER   AND    PATRIOT. 


The  following  eloquent  tribute  to  our  late  President  was 
delivered  at  Sonoma,  Saturday,  August  8th,  1885  : 

FELLOW-CITIZENS:  The  people  of  the  United  Stales 
have  by  common  impulse  and  consent  adapted  this  day  as 
a  day  of  eulogy  and  mourning.  To-day  there  is  silently 
and  sadly  borne  to  the  .grave  by  the  whole  nation  one  of 
America's  most  distinguished  citizens  :  a  child  of  the  Re- 
public and  an  example  of  its  beneficent  institutions,  Ulysses 
S.  Grant,  the  laureled  hero. 

On  the  2:->rd  of  last  July,  in  the  morning,  the  attention  of 
the  whole  world  was  directed  to  the  Mount  McGregor  Cot- 
tage, and  the  health  of  its  occupant  was  anxiously  inquired 
for.  In  the  morning  hours  death  was  entering  that  cottage 
and  to  every  pulsation  and  every  whisper,  fifty  millions  of 
Americans  were  anxious  observers  and  the  whole  world 
gave  respectful  attention.  Why  this  most  profound  and 
universal  interest?  Death  came  to  that  cottage  as  to  thous- 
ands and  tens  of  thousands  of  American  homes,  where  the 
tears  are  confined  to  few 'and  where  the  circle  is  limited.  In 
the  cottage  were  seen  no  royal  garments,  no  insignia  of 
command  or  power,  no  ancestral  titles,  nothing  to  denote 
that  a  great  man  had  fallen. 


He  was  patient  amid  great  suffering,  and  calm  amid  the 
transforming  processes  that  were  taking  place  in  the  soul's 
temporary  tabernacle,  while  putting  off'  the  mortal  apparel 
and  dressing  in  the  robes  of  immortality.  No  word  of 
passion  or  complaint  fell  from  his  lips.  He  was  forgetful  of 
himself  but  very  solicitous  of  the  comfort  and  happiness 
of  his  wife  and  family,  and  for  the1  concordance  and  welfare 
of  the  whole  people. 

In  life's  supreme  crisis  he  did  not  fail  to  appreciate  the 
words  of  commendation  and  tributes  of  respect  which  came 
from  every  quarter  of  the  Union.  These  he  said  were  a  joy 
to  his  heart.  He  also  exhibited  towards  his  wife  and  fam- 
ilv  the  most  tender  and  solicitous  affection  and  regard. 
Neither  the  world's  applause  nor  dissolving  nature  so  ab- 
'  sorbed  his  attention  as  to  cause  him  to  forget  to  direct  that 
in  death  as  in  life  his  wife  should  be  at  his  side,  a  partner 
in  whatever  home  the  country  should  give  him.  With  him 
affection  for  his  wife  was  above  all  earthly  pomp  and  all 
human  monuments.  When  he  informed  his  physicians  that 
were  it  not  for  the  hope  of  ultimate  recover}'  he  would  not 
be  willing  to  survive  another  day  on  account  of  his  severe 
sufferings,  he  enjoined  them  not  to  impart  that  knowledge 
so  as  to  pain  or  disquiet  his  family.  Notwithstanding  reti- 
cence was  a  marked  trait  in  his  character,  yet  occasional! v 
evidence  of  the  inner  life  appear. 

To  his  clergyman,  Dr.  Newman,  he  said,  "  I  believe  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  whoever  lives  by  them  will  be'heneHted. 
Men  may  differ  as  to  their  interpretations,  but  the  Scrip- 
tures are  man's  best  guide." 

HIS    LAST    MESSAGE. 

Fourteen  days  before  his  demise  he  prepared  an  address 
to  his  wife  and  children,  which  was  found  after  tlie-stni^glo 
of  life  was  over,  from  which  the  following  is  taken  :  "  Look 
after  our  dear  children  and  direct  them  in  the  paths  of 
rectitude.  It  would  distress  me  far  more  to  think  that  one 
of  them  would  depart  from  an  honorable,  upright  and  vir- 
tuous life  than  it  would  to  know  that  they  were  never  to 
arise  alive.  They  have  never  given  us  any  cause  for  alarm 
on  this  account,  and  I  earnestly  pray  that  they  never  will." 


With  these  few  injunctions  and  the  knowledge  I  have  of 
your  love  and  affection,  I  bid  you  a  final  farewell  until  we 
meet  in  another  and,  1  trust,  a  better  world .  You  will  find 
this  on  my  person  after  my  demise."  Such  patience,  calm- 
ness, courage,  wise  counsel  and  endearing  sentiments  when 
facing  the  king  of  terrors  are  most  praiseworthy,  yet 
many  obscure  Christian  men  to  fame  unknown  have  dis- 
played the  same  seraphic  character. 

Then  why  was  the  whole  country  watching  and  waiting 
around  that  deathbed  scene?  Why  is  the  country  draped 
in  mourning?  Why  is  the  hum  of  business  hushed  and 
why  is  the  whole  country  engaged  in  these  sepulchral  cere- 
monies? Why  do  even  the  most  distant  isles  of  the  sea 
gaze  upon  these  obsequies  with  sadness  and  sympathy?  He 
was  not  known  in  the  world  of  poetry  or  song,  had  not 
vied  with  Homer,  Milton  or  Shakespeare.  He  had  not  been 
distinguished  as  an  orator,  and  like  Clay,  Webster,  Cicero 
and  Demosthenes,  charmed  and  thrilled  Senates  and 
aroused  nations.  He  had  not  been  a  groat  law-giver  of  his 
time  like  Adams,  Jefferson,  Lincoln  and  (iarfield. 

How.  then,  did  he  win  his  iireat  renown,  and  why  is  the 
nation  in  mourning?  How  has  he  connected  himself  with 
the  great  heart  of  his  countrymen  and  won  the  respect  of 
all  nations  and  the  admiration  of  all  mankind?  Let  the 
people  of  a  grateful  Republic  answer. 

THK    SKCIJKT    OF     HIS     POWKH. 

They  attribute  the  safety  of  the  nation  and  liberty  itself 
to  the  laureled  soldier.  They  feel  that  he  has  rendered  them 
and  their  country  inestimable  service.  They  feel  that  by 
his  labor,  skill,  perils  and  valor  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  been  established  on  a  permanent  founda- 
tion and  the  people  saved  from  a  state  of  anarchy  and  from 
interminable  fraternal  wars  and  fraternal  bloodshed.  They 
firmly  believe  that  the  victories  of  Fort  Donaldson,  Yicks- 
burg  and  Appomattox  have1  contributed  to  their  pence, 
prosperity  and  happiness,  to  the  permanent  glory  of  the 
Republic  and  to  the  world's  advancement.  Who  can  de- 
scribe the  rich  fruit  that  has  blossomed  on  the  tree  of  pas- 


sion    and    war?       What   benign,    auspicious    results    have 
sprung  from  fierce  contest. 

The  unity  of  the  Government  and  the  great  truths  of 
liberty  were  submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  war,  tried,  re- 
fined and  perfected  in  the  blaze  of  battle,  ratified  at  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon  and  incorporated  in  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  to  be  and  remain  the  law  of  the 
land  forever.  Problems  of  vast  import  to  man  and  nations 
have  been  settled  on  the  field  of  battle.  Under  the  myste- 
rious dispensation  of  human  affairs  great  truths  have  been 
canonized  on  the  field  of  carnage.  Ours  was  the  last  great 
war  between  ancient  and  modern  civilization,  and  its  de- 
cision has  done  more  to  settle  the  principles  of  society  and 
government  on  a  permanent  basis,  and  to  establish  equality 
and  harmony  among  all  classes,  than  any  previous  act  of 
history.. 

RESULT    OP    HIS    PATRIOTISM. 

The  hero  whom  we  this  day,  with  tears  and  lamentations, 
consign  to  the  grave  led  the  armies  of  the  Union  to  those 
victories  : 

That  have  conclusively  and  forever  established  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Constitution  and  the  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States  ; 

That  settled  the  questions  permanently  that  the  States  of 
the  Union  are  a  nation,  one  people  with  one  Hag,  one  lan- 
guage, one  system  of  government,  founded  on  the  equalitv 
of  the  rights  of  man  : 

That  broke  the  manacles  of  four  millions  of  slaves  and 
made  them  and  their  posterity  free  forever; 

That  removed  the  cause  of  the  irrepressible  conflict — 
American  slavery.  Happily  the  country  is  now  freed  from 
this  powerful  architect  of  dissension  and  disaster.  This, 
the  inspiring  cause  of  disagreement  and  dissension,  is  per- 
manently removed.  Mason  and  Dixon's  bloody  line,  along 
which  the  lightning  and  tempests  of  a  century's  conten- 
tion and  passion  had  accumulated,  has  been  swept  away, 
and  now  broad  fields  are  spread  out  on  every  side  where 
the  flowers  of  peace  and  prosperity  may  bloom  forever. 

Through  his  valor  and  success  and  that  of  his  comrades. 


civilization  has  triumphed  and  the  Higher  Law,  teaching 
the  doctrines  of  National  responsibility,  and  that  there  is 
an  inevitable  chain  of  causes  and  effects  linking  together 
National  sins  and  National  calamities,  is  now  adopted  as 
the  creed  of  Nations.  They  have  given  to  us  a  land  where 
liberty  and  order  and  law  shall  walk  hand  in  hand  in  happy 
union  forever.  By  their  genius  and  heroism  our  Republic 
has  been  redeemed,  regenerated  and  disenthralled.  To  Gen- 
eral Grant  and  his  comrades  we  are  indebted  for  our  peace 
at  home  and  our  standing  abroad.  To  them  we  are  in- 
debted for  whatever  is  valuable  in  our  institutions  and  the 
rising  glories  of  the  Republic. 

As  time  advances  the  worth  of  their  great  services  to 
their  country  and  mankind  will  be  more  clearly  seen  and 
highly  appreciated,  and  coming  generations  will  rise  up  and 
bless  the  gallant  soldiers  for  their  fortunate  birth  and  in- 
creased happiness,  for  the  great  good  they  have  conferred 
upon  their  country,  their  race  and  all  mankind. 

He  who  gained  unperishable  laurels  in  defense  of  the  Hag, 
the  government  and  liberty  ;  who  made  this  and  all  suc- 
ceeding ages  his  debtors,  was  simple  in  his  tastes,  unaffect- 
ed and  unostentatious  in  his  manners,  confiding  and  tender 
in  spirit,  inflexible  in  integrity  and  of  iron-like  courage, 
one  of  the  most  .remarkable  men  of  this  or  any  age.  Dur- 
ing the  thunder  of  battle  when  immense  interests  were  at 
stake,  he  was  calm,  self  reliant  and  undaunted,  never  doubt- 
ing but  that  he  would  wrest  victory  from  the  jaws  of  battle. 

Uukind  or  disparaging  words  wore  strangers  to  his  lips. 
He  had  a  soul  too  lofty  and  magnanimous,  even  in  the 
hours  of  supreme  exultation  and  victory  to  utter  one  word 
of  humiliation  to  a  fallen  captive  chief.  A  noble  life 
crowned  with  a  Christian  death  rises  above  and  outlives  the 
pride  and  pomp  of  empires. 

ins  EPITAPH. 

Let  him  sleep  on  a  Nation's  heart,  embalmed  in  a. 
Nation's  love.  As  the  eye  of  coming  generations  turns 
back  to  pay  its  tribute  to  the  gallant  and  great,  it  will  see 
most  prominent  in  that  august  body  Grant,  Lincoln  and 
(JarnVld.  An  emancipated  and  disenthralled  race  and  a  re- 


generated  country  is  his  monument.  Its  freedom  is 
his  epitaph.  Its  prosperity,  its  peace  and  its  happiness 
is  his  everlasting  memorial. 

After  witnessing  the  results  of  the  war,  during  the  lapse 
of  twenty  years  from  its  termination,  now,  when  the  pas- 
sions have  subsided  and  interest  and  ambition  are  buried 
with  the  past,  all,  both  North  and  South,  understand  and 
appreciate  General  Grant's  unselfish  and  lofty  character 
and  the  most  beneficent  work  accomplished  by  the  magnan- 
imous chieftain. 

The  angelic  reflections  uttered  and  spirit  manifested  to- 
ward the  close  of  life  correctly  interpret  his  life's  history, 
and  reveal  the  true  character  of  the  silent  hero  and  show 
that  he  went  to  the  field  of  blood  and  victory  under  the 
highest  and  holiest  motives.  It  was  not  fame  nor  ambition, 
but  it  was  the  inspiration  of  sacred  duty  that  made  him 
fearless  and  invincible.  He  was  chosen  in  the  councils  of 
heaven  to  re-establish  our  shattered  Government  on  the 
basis  of  freedom,  with  the  sword.  He  executed  the  great 
work  assigned  him  with  meekness,  with  humility,  with  re- 
markable fidelity  and  courage.  No  other  man,  in  ancient 
or  modern  times,  has  accomplished  so  much  and  claimed 
so  little  as  the  heroic  Grant. 

When  his  great  work  was  consummated  he  claimed  no 
honor,  displayed  no  pride  or  ostentation,  exhibited  no  re- 
sentment or  malice,  but  the  most  exalted  spirit  of  philan- 
thropy and  charity.  At  the  age  of 'sixty-three  his  suffer- 
ings and  his  triumphs  on  earth  end,  and  not  only  our 
nation,  but  all  mankind  proclaim,  "  Well  done,  thou  faith- 
ful servant ;  go  up  higher." 

"  The  stars  of  our  banner  grew  suddenly  dim  ; 
Let  us  weep  in  our  darkness,  but  weep  not  for  him  ; 
Not  for  him,  who  departing  left  millions  in  tears; 
Not  for  him,  who  has  died  full  of  honors  and  years; 
Not  for  him,  who  ascended  Fame's  ladder  so  high  ; 
From  the  round  at  the  top  he  has  stepped  to  the  sky." 


MEMORIAL  DAY  ADDRESS, 


BY 


RON,  C,  HARTSON, 

Before  Kit  Carson  Post,  G.  A.  R,  at  Hapa, 
May,  1886. 


This  day  is  set  apart  as  a  memorial  day,  a  day  to  pre- 
serve the  memory  of  those  who  offered  their  lives  to  the 
preservation  of  the  American  Union,  and  to  whose  valor 
and  labor  success  was  awarded  ;  a  day  to  decorate  the  sep- 
nlehers  of  those  who  have  achieved  distinction  in  rescuing 
their  country  from  its  imperilled  condition,  who  have  per- 
petuated the  Government  and  contributed  in  a  high  degree 
to  the  welfare,  not  alone  of  their  countrymen,  but  the  whole 
human  race. 

We  meet  to  honor  our  noble  dead  and  rejoice  in  the  rich 
legacy  they  left  us — a  magnificent  country,  a  united  coun- 
try, with  its  ocean-bound  limits  and  its  great  lakes,  its  im- 
perial rivers  and  colossal  cities,  untrodden  by  the  foot  of  a 
slave.  We  meet  to  adorn  the  graves  of  those  who  through 
the  sharp  conflict  of  battle  on  land  and  sea  have  averted 
disunion  with  its  horrors,  and  have  established  for  us  a  free 
government  on  a  just  and  solid  foundation,  and,  we  ar- 
dently hope,  made  it  as  enduring  as  the  stars.  In  our  land 


and  in  our  time  lias  been  fought  the  last  great  battle  be- 
tween the  ancient  and  modern-civilizations  and  systems  of 
government,  and  its  decision  has  done  more  to  settle  the 
principles  of  society  and  government  on  a  permanent  basis 
and  establish  equality  and  harmony  among  all  classes  than 
any  previous  act  of  history.  It  was  not  alone  the  skill  and 
heroism  exhibited,  the  sufferings  endured,  the  magnitude  of 
the  armies  engaged  or  the  magnificence  of  the  victories,  for 
the  contest  was  between  giants  alike  in  endurance  and 
valor,  but  that  it  determined  the  irrepressible  conflict  be- 
tween freedom  and  slavery,  which  was  coeval  with  the  his- 
tory of  our  race.  This  contest,  to  an  American,  is  of  tran- 
scendent interest,  because  by  it  liberty  and  the  American 
Union  were  made  one  and  inseparable,  now  and  forever. 
The  importance  of  your  actions  does  not  depend  upon  the 
battles  though  bloody,  nor  successes  though  brilliant,  hut 
because  peace  was  established  on  a  permanent  basis,  the 
Union  preserved  and  liberty  triumphant. 

The  pages  of  history  abound  in  descriptions  of  battles 
of  the  most  fearful,  desperate  and  bloody  character.  The 
victors  and  vanquished  have  mostly  passed  into  oblivion, 
their  acts  of  gallantry  are  forgotten,  and  in  most  cases  the 
nations  live  on  weakened  by  the  loss  of  blood  and  treasure, 
and  the  people  often  becoming  more  demoralized  and  de- 
praved by  witnessing  and  participating  in  scenes  of  cruelty, 
injustice  and  carnage.  Occasionally  there  is  an  oasis  in 
the  great  desert  of  martial  strife.  The  battle  of  Marathon 
is  remembered  because  Grecian  liberty  was  preserved  and 
Greece  herself  was  saved.  The  battle  of  Waterloo  is  of 
paramount  interest,  not  on  account  of  the  numbers  en- 
gaged, for  Napoleon  is  reported  to  have  had  only  124,000  • 
men  in  battle,  nor  for  its  slaughter,,  but  because  it  ended  the 
career  of  the  brilliant,  aggressive  and  throne-destroying 
Napoleon,  confirmed  the  tenure  by  which  kings  held  their 
sceptres  and  gave  peace  to  the  dynasties  of  Europe. 

The  battles  of  Bunker  Hill,  Saratoga  and  Yorktown  will    \ 
always  challenge  the   regard  and   admiration  of  mankind, 
not  on  account  of   their  magnitude,  but  because  the  princi- 
ples  enunciated  in  the   Declaration  of  Independence  wore 


9 

then  vindicated   and   because  the  fate  of   the  Colonies  was 
involved  in  the  struggle. 

The  world  will  always  attach  peculiar  interest  to  the 
Civil  War  in  America,  especially  that  portion  who  regard 
the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  as  the  foundation  of  peace  and 
prosperity;  those,  also,  who  rejoice  in  its  beneficent  and 
philanthropic  results  and  those  who  revel  in  the  inspiration 
and  enjoyment  of  natural,  legal  and  constitutional  freedom. 
•  Through  a  succession  of  wars  of  the  most  desperate  and 
bloody  character  the  heroic-  and  patriotic  people  of  the 
United  States  have  thrown  off  the  foreign  yoke  of  arbitrary 
and  despotic  power,  reorganized  her  own  political  system 
on  the  principles  of  equality  and  justice,  established  a  Re- 
public adapted  to  the  development  of  enterprise,  to  the  un- 
folding of  talent,  to  the  exhibition  of  the  loftiest  flights  of 
genius  and  to  the  establishment  of  the  most  exalted  and 
sublime  character.  The  people  of  the  Republic  can  now 
sav  : — 

>(  Oh  liberty!  heaven's  choice  prerogative 

True  hoixl  of  law  ;  thou  social  soul  of  property, 
Thou  breath  of  reason  ;  life  of  life  itself.'' 

At  times  every  throne- in  Europe  has  been  shaken  by  the 
enthusiastic  people  seeking  to  obtain  this  high  degree  of 
perfection  in  national  life.  Fn  the  cause  of  liberty  and  jus- 
tice the  people  of  England,  in  1215,  wrung  from  their  king, 
John,  the  great  charter  called  the  Magna  Charta,  and  in 
1G49  King  Charles  was  sent  to  the  scaffold  for  usurpation 
and  tyranny. 

The  conflict  between  the  people  and  monarchs  has  been 
waged  in  every  part  of  the  old  world  with  varying  success. 
In  the  new  wrorld  free  government,  the  representative  sys- 
tem, -has  had  the  highest  development.  To  eradicate  slav- 
ery from  the  constitution,  to  perpetuate  free  institutions  in 
this  western  world,  to  maintain  the  unity,  power  and  glory 
of  the  United  States  and  make  them  as  in  brotherhood  so 
in  interest,  affection  and  purpose,  one  and  inseparable -for- 
ever, was  a  work  of  colossal  magnitude.  The  bloody  fields 
of  Bull  Run,  Fort  Donaldson,  Vicksburg  and  the  memorable 
battle  fields  of  Virginia,  covered  with  fallen  heroes,  attest 


10 

the  immensity  of  the  undertaking   and   the  cost  and  worth 
of  the  victory. 

What  lias  been  accomplished?  Your  victory  lias  conclu- 
sively and  forever  established  the  supremacy  of  the  consti- 
tution and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  You  brought  out  of  four  years  of  war,  out 
of  the  long  night  of  woe,  peace  and  victory ;  peace  to  fifty 
millions  and  their  posterity,  and  victory  not  to  arms  alone 
but  to  ideas  and  principles,  to  freedom  and  humanity. 

You  have  given  us  a  land  smiling  with  peace  and  rejoic- 
ing in  plenty. 

You  have  given  us  a  country  where  liberty  and  order  and 
law  shall  walk  hand  in  hand  in  happy  union  forever. 

Through  your  sufferings  and  valor  the  Republic,  our  Re- 
public, has  been  redeemed,  regenerated  and  disenthralled. 

The  former  fugitive  no  longer  looks  to  the  north  star  for 
direction  and  safety,  but  looks  to  the  imperishable  stars, 
equality,  justice  and  liberty,  set  by  you  on  the  nation's 
brow,  for  the  assurance  of  freedom  for  him  and  his  poster- 
ity forever. 

To  you  we  are  indebted  for  our  peace  at  home  and  our 
standing  abroad. 

To  you  we  are  indebted  for  whatever  is  valuable  in  our 
institutions  and  the  rising  glories  of  the  Republic. 

Through  your  valor  and  victories,  civilization  itself  has 
triumphed,  and  the  higher  laws  teaching  the  doctrine  of 
National  responsibility  and  that  there  is  an  inevitable  chain 
of  causes  and  effects  linking  together  national  sins  and 
national  calamities,  is  adopted  as  the  Creed  of  Nations. 

Soldiers,  comrades  and  members  of  Kit  Carson  Post,  a 
branch  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  you  have  the 
honor  of  having  borne  an  important  part  in  achieving  this 
greatness  and  grandeur  for  your  country  and  the  world. 

Whatever  satisfaction  and  felicity  belong  to  noble  actions, 
followed  with  grand  and  sublime  results,  are  yours  ;  yours 
to  enjoy  forever. 


11 

Those  who  have  the  highest  appreciation  of  your  gallant 
services  and  the  greatest  admiration  of  your  character,  con- 
scious of  their  utter  inability  to  make  you  a  fitting  return, 
might  well  pray  :  Bancroft  Library 

"  Oh  !  call  not  to  my  mind  what  you  have  done, 
It  sets  a  debt  of  that  account  before  me, 
Which  shows  me  poor  and  bankrupt  even  in  hopes." 

But  every  patriot  the  wide  world  over,'  and  every  partici- 
pant in  the  blessings  scattered  by  you  on  every  side  with  a 
bountiful  hand,  will  unite  in  this  sentiment : 

"Yes!  rear  thy  guardian  hero's  form 
On  thy  proud  soil,  thy  Western  world  ; 
A  watcher  through  each  sign  of  storm 
O'er  freedom's  flag  unfurled." 


PETITION 

TO 

PRESIDENT  ARTHUR 

OX    THE 

CHINESE  QUESTION. 


|  When  the  present  Chinese  Restriction  Bill  was  before 
the  President  for  approval  or  rejection,  two  Congression- 
al Bills  on  the  same  subject  having  been  previously 
vetoed,  General  Miller  presented  to  President  Arthur  . 
the  following  address,  prepared  by  Chancellor  Hartson 
and  signed  by  prominent  Republicans  and  business 
men  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  President  received 
the  same,  assuring  Senator  Miller  that  it  would  receive  his 
careful  examination  and  consideration.  Two  days  there- 
after the  President  relieved  the  people  of  this  Coast  of  all 
doubt,  anxiety  and  fear,  by  informing  Senator  Miller  that 
he  would  approve  the  Bill,  disappointing  Eastern  mer- 
chants, statesmen  and  philanthropists,  and  giving  great  re- 
lief and  joy  to  the  whole  people  of  the  State  of  California. 
The  reader  will  judge  to  what  extent  this  address  contrib- 
uted to  the  safety  of  the  commonwealth.] 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR, 

President  of  the  United  States. 
HONORED  SIR  : 

As  Republicans  and  Americans,  we,  residents  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  Pacific  Coast,  wish,  in  ail  frankness,  confi- 
dence, and  friendship,  to  present  for  your  earnest  considera- 
tion some  reflections  upon  tne  subject  of  Chinese  immigra- 
tion. 

The  most  anxious,  intense  and   profound  feelings  prevail 
here  among  all   classes,  constraining  us  to   state  briefly  the    ' 
reason  for  a  well  settled  conviction   adverse  to   Chinese  im- 
migration,   founded    on    an   intimate     knowledge    of    their 
habits  and  character  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


13 

Unlike  our  people  in  form  and  feature,  in  habit  and  char- 
acter, tutored  in  the  rights  of  a  pagan  religion,  and  disci- 
plined under  a  cruel  code  by  a  despotic  government,  they 
are  not  qualified  for  the  exercise  of  the  rights  or  duties  of 
American  citizens,  or  for  maintaining  a  government  of 
which  Adams,  Jefferson,  Otis,  Washington,  and  their  com- 
peers were  the  founders  ;  and  from  their  tenacity  and  inflex- 
ibility of  nature,  we  believe  the}'  never  cim  become  loyal 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

They  have  no  interest  or  care  for  our  name,  our  honor, 
our  laws,  our  government,  or  our  people.  Patriotism,  the 
love  of  liberty,  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  of  our 
free  institutions,  and  of  our  country  are  sentiments  to  them 
unknown. 

Countless  millions  of  this  strange  race  have  for  unnum- 
bered ages  been  shut  up  in  the  narrow  confines  of  their 
everlasting  walls,  and  have  been  compelled  constantly  and 
painfully,  imder  pressure  of  cold  and  hunger,  to  battle  for 
both  food  and  raiment.  By  stern  necessity  they  have  been 
bred  and  disciplined  in  the  most  severe  methods  of  self- 
denial  and  bestial  economy,  have  been  taught  to  perform 
the  greatest  amount  of  labor  with  the  least  possible  expendi- 
ture in  food,  in  clothing,  and  in  shelter.  Many  accept  the 
dog's  kennel  for  lodgment,  and  the  dog's  food  for  suste- 
nance, with  relish  and  satisfaction. 

In  their  own  country  they  exist  in  numbers  so  vast  as  to 
be  computed  by  the  hundred  millions.  Our  coast  is  acces- 
sible and  transportation  cheap,  and  wages  many  times 
greater  than  in  Peking  and  Canton.  With  them  wages  are 
extremely  low,  and  labor  abundant  and  population  dense. 

The  natural  temptations  and  inducements  for  them  to 
voluntarily  colonize  within  our  borders  are  manifold,  and 
to  these  may  be  added  the  power  of  that  mercenary  spirit 
that  speculates  in  the  labor  and  servitude  of  those  too  poor 
to  pay  the  lowest  rates  of  Coolie  passage.  This  greed  gave 
rise  to  the  Coolie  slave  trade  that  has  annually  landed  a 
slavish,  brutish,  idolatrous  horde  upon  our  shores. 

These  conditions  and  causes  have  brought  multitudes  of 
this  strange  people  to  our  shores  and  imperilled  every  class 


14 

and  every  interest.'  They  come  among. us  without  wives  or 
children  to  support,  with  no  schools  or  churches  to  sustain, 
with  no  social  rank  to  maintain,  no  character  to  assert,  and 
no  government  to  vindicate  or  defend. 

Many  years  of  observation  and  experience  have  taught  us 
to  abhor  the  idea  of  subjecting  our  fellow  countrymen — 
with  families  to  educate,  clothe  and  supply,  with  a  position 
in  society  to  maintain,  with  a  government  to  defend  and 
support — to  competition  for  SUBSISTENCE  and  EXISTENCE 
with  the  Asiatic  labor  machines. 

And  this  is  the  mechanism  now  placed  in  competition 
witli  the  American  laborer,  the  child  of  the  Republic. 

With  such  physical  conditions  and  with  their  aptitudes 
they  are  enabled  to  supplant  our  own  people  in  all  trades 
and  departments  of  manual  labor ;  and  the  destruction  of 
one  class  of  society,  like  the  destruction  of  one  member  of 
the  body,  involves  all  of  the  rest  in  the  calamity. 

Year  after  year  we  have  witnessed  the  different  trades 
surrendered  to  these  Mongolians  until  we  are  alarmed  at 
the  defenseless  and  perilous  condition  of  our  society  and 
people. 

They  invade  American  interests  and  institutions  and 
society  itself  with  insidious  weapons  more  destructive  than 
shot  or  shell .  And  when  their  speculations  and  spoliations 
are  complete  their  cash  and  bones  find  a  common  recep- 
tacle in  the  land  of  Josh. 

The  places  occupied  by  the  Chinese  in  our  cities  and 
towns  lose  all  utility  and  value  except  for  their  own  pur- 
poses ;  and  from  these  infected  spots  our  population  recedes 
as  from  a  loathsome  nuisance,  and  on  every  side  property 
shrinks  largely  in  value  or  loses  it  entirely.  Like  Kansas 
grasshoppers,  the  Chinese  mark  their  places  and  progress 
with  desolation — like  the  grasshopper,  he  survives  at  the 
expense  of  the  country. 

Would  we  not  judge  a  parent  pusillanimous,  cruel  and 
inhuman,  who  would  allow  some  mercenary  adventurers  by 
wile  or  art  or  adventitious  circumstance  to  force  a  dutiful 
son  from  the  fireside  and  home  of  his  youth  and  cast  him 
upon  the  cold  charity  of  the  world  for  precarious  existence  ; 


and  is  a  NATION  any  the  less  guilty  that  permits  its  own 
citizens,  aye,  defenders,  to  be  supplanted,  displaced  and 
driven  forth  wanderers,  by  a  foreign  Pagan  horde  deficient 
in  patriotism  and  all  of  the  prerequisites  of  American  citi- 
zenship? 

It  ought  not  to  be,  it  cannot  be,  that  this  paternal  and 
beneficent  and  powerful  government  will  suffer  its  own  chil- 
dren, its  defenders,  its  own  laboring  masses,  largely  the 
hope  and  strength  of  the  Republic,  its  reliance  in  cases  of 
invasion  and  dire  necessity,  to  be  impoverished  and  ruined 
by  a  false  spirit  of  utilitarianism  or  sacrificed  to  themoloch 
of  cheap  labor. 

We  cannot  but  regard  such  a  policy  as  an  act  of  injustice 
and  cruelty  to  our  own  people,  calculated  to  entail  upon  us 
disasters  and  calamities  of  the  most  alarming  and  shocking 
nature. 

May  Heaven  avert  the  deserved  vengeance  that  we  fear 
will  visit  any  nation  that  commits  or  tolerates  such  a  crime 
against  its  own  people. 

History  has  too  often  taught  us  that  when  an  unemployed 
and  demoralized  people  in  great  cities  become  a  starving 
people,  as  has  often  happened  and  surely  will  again,  when 
the  surging  masses  are  maddened  with  want,  suffering  and 
a  sense  of  injustice  then  avenging  justice,  armed  with  dis- 
order, anarchy  and  revolution,  will  make  the  skies  lurid 
with  conflagration  of  cities  and  the  streets  red  with  human 
gore. 

The  Republican  Party  sprang  into  existence  in  opposi- 
tion to  slave  importation,  slave  labor,  and  the  extension  of 
slavery. 

For  many  years  she  has  battled  manfully  for  the  protec- 
tion and  elevation  of  the  American  laborer,  and  in  his  cause 
she  has  won  sublime  triumphs  and  unfading  laurels.  The 
Republican  party  cannot  now,  in  disregard  of  her  cardinal 
principles,  afford  to  favor  or  permit  the  importation  of 
coolie  slaves,  those  who  are  insensible  of  their  condition 
and  indifferent  to  their  fate,  and  thereby  degrade  labor  or 
reduce  the  meanest  citizen  of  this  Republic  to  a  like  servile 
condition. 


16 

We  might  point  to  our  Clays,  our  Liricolns  and  our  Gar- 
fields,  and  thousands  of  our  illustrious  countrymen,  and 
say  to  you  that  unrestricted  Mongolian  immigration  will 
hereafter  make  the  production  of  such  characters  impossible 
in  this  country.  We  might  say,  too,  that  the  Republican 
party  with  its  long  line  of  brilliant  statesmen  and  heroes, 
loaded  with  honors  and  triumphs,  and  with  the  glory  of  the 
proclamation  of  universal  emancipation  written  upon  its 
brow,  could  not  survive  with  Chinese  immigration  as  its 
watchword  ;  but  we  make  our  appeal  to  you  from  higher 
considerations  and  loftier  motives  if  possible,  and  we  say 
that  we  do  not  believe  that  our  institutions,  our  people,  and 
liberty  itself,  on  this  continent  can  survive  if  this  great  evil 
remains  unrestricted. 

We  are  not  indebted  to  China  for  our  language,  litera- 
ture, arts,  sciences,  civilization,  forms  of  government,  laws 
or  religion  ;  and  as  she  has  done  nothing  to  create  this  great 
Republic,  with  its  varied  and  mighty  interests,  neither  she 
nor  her  people  should  be  allowed  to  do  anything  to  de- 
stroy it. 

We  implore  you,  the  honored  Chief  Magistrate  of  our 
people,  by  every  interest  and  consideration  that  can  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  President  of  this  majestic  Republic — by  every 
consideration  dear  to  an  American  citizen  proud  of  the  past 
history  of  his  country,  and  anxious  for  her  future  advance- 
ment and  renown — by  the  recollection  that  this  nation  was 
begotten  in  the  throes  of  the  Revolution,  baptized  in  the 
blood  of  an  innumerable  host  of  patriots,  has  been  main- 
tained and  transmitted  at  an  immense  cost  of  blood  and 
treasure  ; — we  beseech  you,  by  all  of  these  reflections  and 
incentives,  in  behalf  of  both  the  rich  and  the  poor — all 
classes,  in  behalf  of  the  present  and  future  generations,  to 
disregard  all  minor  objections  and  considerations,  and  to 
sanction  any  measure  passed  by  Congress  that  has  for  its 
object  the  SUPREME  MERIT  OF  AMERICAN  PROTECTION,  and 
thereby  preserve  both  our  people  and  the  Republic. 

(Signed  by  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee, 
the  author  and  others.) 


